I disagree. I think that individuals such as Gates have adopted making the world a better place as a terminal or near-terminal value. I see no evidence that he is acting in anything but the best of faith. I think he is sincerely trying to direct his money wherever it will gain the most utilons for the world, not the most utilons for him.
Status-seeking charitable works look considerably different to me. They exhibit all the normal biases of people’s emotional moral compass: they’re not forward looking enough, they’re too local, they focus on things the endower and their friends enjoy or make use of, such as the arts.
You might say that the adoption of the value of doing good in the world is a status seeking behaviour. Maybe, but this is irrelevant as long as the value is to do good, rather than seem to do good. So long as the effort is in good faith, the advice to seek utilons and fuzzies separately applies.
I disagree. I think that individuals such as Gates have adopted making the world a better place as a terminal or near-terminal value. I see no evidence that he is acting in anything but the best of faith. I think he is sincerely trying to direct his money wherever it will gain the most utilons for the world, not the most utilons for him.
Status-seeking charitable works look considerably different to me. They exhibit all the normal biases of people’s emotional moral compass: they’re not forward looking enough, they’re too local, they focus on things the endower and their friends enjoy or make use of, such as the arts.
You might say that the adoption of the value of doing good in the world is a status seeking behaviour. Maybe, but this is irrelevant as long as the value is to do good, rather than seem to do good. So long as the effort is in good faith, the advice to seek utilons and fuzzies separately applies.